Rich Suburbs Voting for Democrats

August 7, 2007 — Ron Chusid

RealClearPolitics has noticed what I’ve been writing about for quite a while. Alffluent suburbanites are beginning to vote Democratic. A lot of us are thinking “to hell with the Bush tax cuts if it means screwing up the country.” Positions on Iraq and social issues are replacing economics as the issues dividing the parties.

RealClearPolitics discusses the increase in support for Democrats in the suburbs:

The political shift toward Democrats has been noted in wealthy suburbs from Seattle to Philadelphia. In 2006, an amazing 63 percent of voters making from $150,000 to $200,000 chose Democratic candidates. Even those making over $200,000 favored Democrats, albeit by a small margin…

The big political question is whether affluent America is under full sail out of the Republican harbor or just drifting due to displeasure with the Bush administration. The leading complaints seem to be the war in Iraq and deficit spending…

It’s astonishing how many rich people dismiss the importance of the Bush tax cuts. They prefer to speak of the national interest, which to them means balanced budgets, a sophisticated foreign policy and concern for the environment. They also feel culturally estranged from social conservatives on such matters as abortion and stem cell research.

The Bush administration ends in January 2009. Will its departure slow Republican losses in posh suburbs? In Greenwich right now, things aren’t looking up for the GOP.

The other question is whether the Democrats can hold on to these voters. While an anti-war, socially liberal, fiscally responsible Democratic Party can continue to grow, a return to “tax and spend” policies and an anti-business atmosphere will remind suburbanites of why they have voted Republican. A candidate like John Edwards who engages in class warfare can probably win the election in 2008, but should he win he is likely to face a Republican Congress in 2011, and might be the last Democratic President we’ll see for a long time.